Jinki: Extend Vol. #3

By Dani Moure     July 10, 2007
Release Date: June 18, 2007



What They Say
The Stage is Set for the Ultimate Battle Between Good and Evil. Each Half of the Devil is Ready for the Ultimate Fight.

Who will live, who will die, and who will emerge victorious?

Akao has been kidnapped by Shiva and is unwittingly preparing to enable Koshuko's plan to come to its full fruition. But with Minami and the rest of Angel hell-bent on rescuing Akao, plans could change. Now that Aoba has returned to Japan, all the pieces of the puzzle are in place and she will face the most important and most dangerous battle of her life. Can she pull it off or will Aoba and Akao end up creating the ultimate "little devil"?

One thing is certain, you don't want to miss any of the action-packed final showdown of Jinki: Extend!

The Review!
The timelines converge and everything comes together to a degree in the final volume of this disappointing series.

Audio:
I listened to the English 5.1 mix for my main viewing, and enjoyed it a great deal. Most of the dialogue does come out of the centre channels, with the music and effects providing most of the directionality, so it's the action scenes where you get the most out of it and it improves on the Japanese stereo mix. I also spot-checked the Japanese track and although it was a bit flatter, I noticed no dropouts or distortions on either track.

The dub is really enjoyable for this series, with Jessica Boone coming to the fore as Akao in this volume. Overall this is a very solid sounding dub that all the actors seem to fit in to straight away.

Video:
The transfer for this show is another very good one from ADV, presented in anamorphic widescreen. With the masters obviously in great condition it's extremely clean and crisp, with colours looking as vibrant as they should and everything just looking very slick. I didn't notice any cross-colouration, aliasing or other artifacts.

Subtitles are in a nice yellow font (ADV's usual), and I didn't notice any grammatical or spelling errors.

Packaging:
Presented in a clear keepcase, the front cover features Aoba and Akao standing in front of the Red Jinki. The show's logo is down the right side along with the volume number. The back cover features a description of the show along with screenshots and a piece of artwork. Extras are clearly listed as is technical information. The inside cover features brief interviews with the Series Director and Yuuna Inamura, the Japanese actress playing Akao. The Director's comments in particular are really interesting as he explains how he tried to fit so much into a short series.

Menu:
The menus are straightforward. The main menu has a moving background image of production line art, with a central selection area featuring the show's logo, the episode selection and sub-menu selection, with a piece of music playing over it. The two sub-menus are in the exact same format with different pieces of music.

Extras:
The extras for this release are a great final set. First there's a 45 minute "Special Night" feature which is basically a concert of sorts with performances, the voice actors and so on. Then there're some text-based messages from the Japanese actors, the standard Location Notes for Japan 1991 and Episode 13. We also get the "On Air" opening 3, as well as the clean opening and closing, and a glossary. The extras for this series have been another real strong point.

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
After the last disastrous volume where the entire story started to fall apart, the final four episodes (or, three at least) manage to bring things back together fairly well and salvage the series as best was probably possible at this point. Having said that, although this volume is better than the last, you still can't shake the feeling that it could have been so much more.

With Akao kidnapped by Shiva, everyone else tries to band together to get her back. Mel J is frustrated at the kidnapping, but remains on team Angel, while Kawamoto returns from Japan with some new equipment for the group to use in the impending battle. Meanwhile Shiva tries to explain exactly what Akao is; apparently the pair are both clones created by the same man. Shiva wants Akao to fight her in the red Jinki to remember exactly who she is, but naturally Akao is reluctant, what with her Aoba-style attitude of not wanting to fight.

They do end up squaring off though, and it leads to Akao snapping and destroying the black Moribito, with Shiva inside. As the Angel members arrive on the scene, having finally found her, Akao attacks Elnie and then destroys a village, beginning her rampage of terror. With everyone barely escaping the fight with Akao alive, there's not much else to expect other than the return of an old face " Aoba.

Aoba immediately goes to her grandmother's grave, and then reacquaints herself with the group, introducing herself as the "other half of the devil". As it turns out that is what Shiva called her way back when they squared off, and she reveals that Shiva is just Kokusho's minion. The whole situation basically happened because Kokusho was once pushed to the brink and tried to murder Genta, but instead killed Akana, the woman he loved. At that moment, he took leave of his senses, and ran off with a piece of Akana.

The result is that Aoba will of course fight on the side of Angel to square off against Akao to stop her other half from causing all that death and destruction. And the final fight ends up being very exciting, and a high point for the series given some of the disappointment that came before. Sure, it's quite stereotypical in its execution but it is a lot of fun to watch the back and forth affair, with several twists and turns including an unlikely moment of salvation for Aoba's mother (despite her obviously not appearing here). This aspect at least provides a nice bit of closure to their relationship and Aoba's feelings towards her, even if it is a bit quick to take place.

So you know exactly how it's going to end, but it's all in how it plays out, and thankfully the final episode at least delivers on its promise. Episode 11 also really helped in unravelling the story somewhat, as it finally revealed some of the missing links and hidden motivations rather than jumbling them up in quite an incomprehensible way.

It's just really unfortunate that it all comes too late. The very last episode on the disc was actually a special OVA in Japan, so it's understandable and forgivable that it's basically a fan-oriented episode because it does at least show this great bunch of characters in their different situations following the final battle, and we get to see what they're going to do in the future.

However this episode also highlights my biggest disappointment with the series; the characters are really, really good and well established in the first volume, and have been excellent to watch throughout the series with their chemistry, but it just feels like they've been done a disservice by the story having become so muddled in the middle. I'm sure some people managed to follow it just fine, but I just can't help but feel it became too overcomplicated for its own good, and it's a crying shame that the series just didn't live up to its potential.

In Summary:
At only three volumes long, Jinki: Extend is a relatively cheap investment compared to a lot of series, but it's one that could've easily done with being twice the length. The production values are good, the characters are excellent and its strongest asset, but the story just crumbles in the middle. It is salvaged to a degree here, as the timelines converge and you can make some sense of it, but it's still a disappointing end for a show that could have been so much more. Fans of the manga (if there are any in the UK) might get a kick out of it, but most will probably struggle to look past the story's failings. Jinki is a real missed opportunity.

Features
Japanese Language (2.0),English Language (5.1),English Subtitles,Jinki: Extend Special Night,Messages from the Seiyuu,On Air Opening 3,Clean Opening and Closing,Location Notes,Glossary of Terms

Review Equipment
Philips 28" Pure Flat Widescreen TV, Pioneer DV-464 code free DVD player, JVC gold-plated RGB SCART cable, standard stereo sound.